Once an expat, always an expat

Evening in Ewha, Part 2: In Search of Dessert

A word to the wise traveler — when looking for Taco Bell and sports bars, follow the army; when looking for world-class cuisine, follow the money; and when looking for the best dessert joints and cafes in town, head to the all-women’s universities.

Not that Ewha has nothing else to offer. By all means go there if you are looking to get a world class education and… well… if you aren’t a man. And perhaps it is also a hot spot for women’s clothing. I am not sure. Having not cross-dressed since my college days, I’m out of the loop on the great women’s clothing hot spots.

Without further ado, following from my last post on Ewha, here are some of the post-dinner, post-lunch (or, hell, anytime!) treats you can indulge yourself in around the area. Take the same directions as in the first post to get to the heart of the area (Exit 2 Ewha, anywhere between the subway and the University 4-5 blocks away).

My first stop off was at Lucycato, the Cafe de Chocolatier.

Lo and behold, their prize offering is…. chocolate! This is their high tech, bionic chocolate synthesizing room, where they are able to mimic extraterrestrial chocolate, including Martian chocolate, the chocolate produced during the Big Bang, and the melted Snickers bar found in E.T.’s pocket after his return home.

And here are a bunch of cakes. Big whoop.

Lucycato also serves gelato, coffee, tea and other assorted sweets.

Next stop was the Chocolateria San Churro (we have chocolate in all languages in Ewha!). I think this literally means “Saint Churro’s Chocolate Store”, which opens up all kind of quirky possibilities.

Here is Saint Churro’s chocolate, beautifully arrayed:

Here is Saint Churro himself, chillin’ with his family on the top row (he’s the churro that looks like a banana on the right. I bet you didn’t know churros could become obese, did you? Its what happens when you own a chocolate shop):
Chocolateria San Churro offers a number of other desserts, coffee and assorted drinks

For those of you who need a detox after all that chocolate, check out Orange Blossom, a “fruit cafe”. I didn’t go in, but I asssume they sell fruit and other fruit-related items:

For a smaller cafe feel, check out Raintree:

Their sign prominently boosts of pancakes, cakes and other dessert items, in addition to coffee and a cozy…. well…. rain-tree like atmosphere. It’s like Alice in Wonderland meets the rain forest.

Meets… furniture. And maps…

After scouting around to find the best place for desert, I settled on Cafe Pera, home to dozens of lonely, abandoned cakes looking for company, love, and someone to masticate, swallow and digest them.

Aren’t they cute?

The desserts range from around 4,000-5,000 won, coffee from 3,000 won. The atmosphere in the cafe is pleasant, old-fashioned and conservative, as if you just stepped into Madame Frou-Frou’s tea shop in some posh part of London.

Pleasant music for studying, good place to bring your grandmother if she ever visits you in Seoul, and, above all, a nice place to grab some cake and enjoy the endless refills of coffee (including, to my surprise, Americanos).

And if, after all this, you decide you’d rather go DIY, then this is the cafe for you: